1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wireless communication apparatus used for a wireless LAN system. In particular, the present invention relates to a protocol sequence for establishing a communication connection.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a wireless LAN communication, communication is performed according to a frame format and a communication control protocol sequence determined by the IEEE 802.11 standard. According to a data communication system of a wireless LAN communication, a communication establishment control protocol operates, and thereby, a communicate-able environment (i.e., state capable of performing a communication defined in the IEEE 802.11 standard) is established. In this case, a media access control (MAC) layer management frame or upper layer frame is sequentially transmitted one by one, and thereby, a communication connection with a target terminal is established. There is a method of transmitting a frame one by one to establish a communication connection. According to the foregoing method, a receiver returns an acknowledgement (ACK) as an acknowledgement response with respect to each frame transmitted from the target terminal. However, the receiver always returns the acknowledgement as a response every frame, and thereby, a wireless LAN network band is wastefully consumed. In addition, time is taken until a communication connection is established to start the communication.
The foregoing problem is not specially obstructed under a situation that a base station, that is, an access point and a terminal (branch), that is, a station do not move. However, according to a situation that a station moves as telephone service using a wireless LAN, the problem must be considered in the case where there is a possibility of making a connection with different access point very time. Therefore, it is desired to solve the foregoing problem.
Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2000-341326 discloses the following technique. According to the technique, one transmission message and a return message expected against it are collectively transmitted. In this way, the return message is reduced to improve transmission efficiency.